Just off of Carnival Victory

[snowwather]

Just cruised the Victory out of Port Canaveral (March 27-31). Was very concerned about this cruise after reading several negative reviews, but overall the ship was fine. My family focuses on good dinning and good entertainment and are less concerned about constant attention on the room. Overall the room was clean and larger than our last Celebrity cruise (on constellation). No problem with the size of the balcony room we had. The food in the main dinning room ranged from good to excellent. No meals were bad and some exceeded expectation. The lobster was available at added cost ($20) and was excellent. If I had to summarize the food in the MDR I would say they did a great job preparing the ingredients they had. For example, the red snapper was as good as any restaurant I have eaten in. The jerk pork was to die for. The food on the celebrity constellation was better only because they started with more exotic base materials. In short, you can find a good meal on Victory in the MDR. The food on Lido deck was not bad, but not great. Here they started with good stock but did not prepare it as well as they should have. For example, the bacon they used taste great but was burnt to a crisp. I hate soggy bacon but bacon so crisp it turns into bacon bits dont work for me. This is just one example of what you find in the buffet lines.

As far as the ship goes it was fine. We were always entertained. Someone in an earlier post complained that the windows were not clean. I thought they were just wining but would have to agree 100% with them. The boat would feel 10 years younger if they just washed the windows. Walked in the new sports bar and alchemy bars. Both were nice but we did not spend time there because we did other things (bingo, comedy show, etc...). They looked nice as did the Ionian lounge, but we were tired by 10 pm and in bed by 11, and no events in these rooms matches with what we were doing that night. Had there been some type of sports event going on at the time the sports bar would have been a great place to watch it.

Nassau was nice but Freeport was lacking. At first I could not understand why the cruise lines went there but after meeting the people and understanding that tourism is vital to the survival of these small islands I was glad we went. Freeport has nice beaches if you seek them out. I hate that most excursions are to shopping markets versus the nice beaches. Both were available so maybe it is my fault for going shopping as opposed to seeing the beach. I think the Bahamas needs to focus on there greatest assets and that is their beautiful beaches and water and not on selling t-shirts. Most of the people I talk to that cruised to Freeport said they have no desire to go back. I think they would like it if they saw the nature wonders of the island. Next cruise will be to St Thomas and than a short ferry ride to St John. No t-shirt shops, just beautiful beaches.

[islacruzer]

Just cruised the Victory out of Port Canaveral (March 27-31). Was very concerned about this cruise after reading several negative reviews, but overall the ship was fine. My family focuses on good dinning and good entertainment and are less concerned about constant attention on the room. Overall the room was clean and larger than our last Celebrity cruise (on constellation). No problem with the size of the balcony room we had. The food in the main dinning room ranged from good to excellent. No meals were bad and some exceeded expectation. The lobster was available at added cost ($20) and was excellent. If I had to summarize the food in the MDR I would say they did a great job preparing the ingredients they had. For example, the red snapper was as good as any restaurant I have eaten in. The jerk pork was to die for. The food on the celebrity constellation was better only because they started with more exotic base materials. In short, you can find a good meal on Victory in the MDR. The food on Lido deck was not bad, but not great. Here they started with good stock but did not prepare it as well as they should have. For example, the bacon they used taste great but was burnt to a crisp. I hate soggy bacon but bacon so crisp it turns into bacon bits dont work for me. This is just one example of what you find in the buffet lines.

As far as the ship goes it was fine. We were always entertained. Someone in an earlier post complained that the windows were not clean. I thought they were just wining but would have to agree 100% with them. The boat would feel 10 years younger if they just washed the windows. Walked in the new sports bar and alchemy bars. Both were nice but we did not spend time there because we did other things (bingo, comedy show, etc...). They looked nice as did the Ionian lounge, but we were tired by 10 pm and in bed by 11, and no events in these rooms matches with what we were doing that night. Had there been some type of sports event going on at the time the sports bar would have been a great place to watch it.

Nassau was nice but Freeport was lacking. At first I could not understand why the cruise lines went there but after meeting the people and understanding that tourism is vital to the survival of these small islands I was glad we went. Freeport has nice beaches if you seek them out. I hate that most excursions are to shopping markets versus the nice beaches. Both were available so maybe it is my fault for going shopping as opposed to seeing the beach. I think the Bahamas needs to focus on there greatest assets and that is their beautiful beaches and water and not on selling t-shirts. Most of the people I talk to that cruised to Freeport said they have no desire to go back. I think they would like it if they saw the nature wonders of the island. Next cruise will be to St Thomas and than a short ferry ride to St John. No t-shirt shops, just beautiful beaches.

 

We were on the same cruise. I liked the big screen by the pool. I reserved some seats on the upper lido, and wife got in line at the buffet and came back with dinner for me and the kids and ate while we watched Jurassic World. I think the next cruise I'd like to seek out another one with a big screen, that was so much fun.

 

We took the tour around the island excursion in Nassau. Stops at some historical sites and some beaches. Before the end, we stopped near a vendor where I got to try some sky juice: Coconut Milk, condensed milk, and Gin. We ended back near downtown Nassau where we walked around and got some lunch before heading back.

 

We didn't go anywhere in freeport except for the port, but i absolutely loved the Conch Salad from Conchalicious. I asked them to make it super spicy and can't wait to go back and try it again.

 

By the way, how did you feel about the small fire that they woke everyone up for at 5am to announce the fire and that there was nothing to worry about?

Edited April 2, 2016 by islacruzer

[johnlisac]

Victory is one of our favorite ship for all the reasons listed above. Might not have all the bells and whistles as the Breeze but always a good time!

 

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[snowwather]

We were on the same cruise. I liked the big screen by the pool. I reserved some seats on the upper lido, and wife got in line at the buffet and came back with dinner for me and the kids and ate while we watched Jurassic World. I think the next cruise I'd like to seek out another one with a big screen, that was so much fun.

 

We took the tour around the island excursion in Nassau. Stops at some historical sites and some beaches. Before the end, we stopped near a vendor where I got to try some sky juice: Coconut Milk, condensed milk, and Gin. We ended back near downtown Nassau where we walked around and got some lunch before heading back.

 

We didn't go anywhere in freeport except for the port, but i absolutely loved the Conch Salad from Conchalicious. I asked them to make it super spicy and can't wait to go back and try it again.

 

By the way, how did you feel about the small fire that they woke everyone up for at 5am to announce the fire and that there was nothing to worry about?

 

That was so strange. I remember the first announcement at 4 amy with "all first responders to deck one". I thought someone had a heart attack. Than the captain came on and announced there was a fire but it was already out. I appreciate the honesty and openness. What passed me off was the next two announcements to tell me all was OK and go back to bed. My next day was at Kennedy space center and we all feel asleep on the bus tour of the complex.

I agree the pool side movies were an excellent touch.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for your report.

[422Melissa]

We also had a small fire on deck 2 of the Valor last week. We had a code bravo announcement but there was never a second announcement or update, so eventually I went back to sleep.

[snowwather]

My Great Grandfather had a ticket for Titanic, but he did not sail on it because my Grandfather was very ill. You would think I would avoid cruising but I find it very safe.

We drove to the port from KY and saw 2 accidents prior to 9 am. The spring break traffic down to Florida was bumper to bumper. Not my preferred way of driving. The point is you are safer on the cruise than the drive to the cruise.

It does however indicate how important it is for cruisers to avoid smoking or open flames in areas not designed for such items and for the cruise ships to practice fire fighting techniques.

[Clarea]

Thanks for the feedback.

[Keith1010]

Welcome back and thank you for the report.

 

Keith

[joyce&bob]

We are sailing Victory 5 day 5/14..... We like to play trivia- sometimes Carnival has lots of trivia, but some ships have more games ( pictionary) stuff like that instead of just trivia. Did you notice what the Victory was offering ?

[LMaxwell]

The Ionian Bar might be one of the nicest venues I've seen on not just a Carnival ship, but almost ANY ship in over 25 years. It almost seems out of place. It was underutilized on my trip as well. They could really host great events there with that large of a space. Truly a beautiful room.

[suezyq50]

Thanks for the postings.

[cruisingbandmom]

Thanks for the review. We sail on her May 5th. I am super excited.

[Momta2girls]

Thanks for taking the time to write a little review. We leave on the Victory in exactly 1 week and with each review I read I get more and more excited.

[jgive]

Thanks for the review! I'll be on the Victory in June.

[Canadianmama3]

Thanks for the review. We're going in July :)

 

 

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[FloridaMommyof3]

Thanks for the review. The Victory is my next cruise, and my first cruise with the movies. Is there plenty of seating? Do they have servers coming by to refill drink orders during the movie? It's just going to be myself and one of my sons (17), and he will be doing his own thing, so I'll basically be a solo cruiser, which I'm really looking forward to in a weird way. So if I have a chair and a frosty drink I'll be happy.

[islacruzer]

Thanks for the review. The Victory is my next cruise, and my first cruise with the movies. Is there plenty of seating? Do they have servers coming by to refill drink orders during the movie? It's just going to be myself and one of my sons (17), and he will be doing his own thing, so I'll basically be a solo cruiser, which I'm really looking forward to in a weird way. So if I have a chair and a frosty drink I'll be happy.

 

 

 

There are plenty of seats but they do fill up fast. There were some people that were carrying chairs from other parts of the lido deck because seats ran out.

 

There is a server that comes around, however in a 1.5 hour movie I only saw him come by twice so you might go and get a beer to start with. Hope this helps.

[orville99]

We're on Victory on May 9, and just received this email from Carnival:

 

"The Carnival Victory will be undergoing a beautification project to enhance our staterooms. Since we will need a little extra time to load supplies, we will now be departing Port Canaveral at 6:00 PM. Check-in for your cruise will begin at 1:30 PM and end at 4:30 PM. In addition, we will return to Port Canaveral at 6:00 AM. Our itinerary will remain as scheduled."

 

Does anyone know what the "beautification project" is??

[Kelmar73]

Ok I have a question and I'm sure this forum is the perfect place to ask it. My wife and I just got back from the victory 4 day Bahamas cruise. It was our fourth year in a row for cruising. Now we are back to work, home, kids, and all the other real world stuff :-( so how do you guys deal with the post cruise blues? We book our trip and look forward to it for so long, then it seems to go by so fast. Now all we have is some great pictures to remind us....until next year hopefully. I know some of you cruise a lot, so what's the remedy for us?? Thanks

[Frank12]

We're on Victory on May 9, and just received this email from Carnival:

 

"The Carnival Victory will be undergoing a beautification project to enhance our staterooms. Since we will need a little extra time to load supplies, we will now be departing Port Canaveral at 6:00 PM. Check-in for your cruise will begin at 1:30 PM and end at 4:30 PM. In addition, we will return to Port Canaveral at 6:00 AM. Our itinerary will remain as scheduled."

 

Does anyone know what the "beautification project" is??

 

I just got this also. Very curious as she just had a drydock not too long ago.

Anyone???

[riclop]

Glad you enjoyed it.

[Livinlife71]

I just got this also. Very curious as she just had a drydock not too long ago.

Anyone???

 

I'm cruising on the Victory on May 5th and got the same email. Someone on another site was wondering if it might be to replace the t.v.s with new flatscreens. Not sure if this is true or not.

[Freckle53]

Ok I have a question and I'm sure this forum is the perfect place to ask it. My wife and I just got back from the victory 4 day Bahamas cruise. It was our fourth year in a row for cruising. Now we are back to work, home, kids, and all the other real world stuff :-( so how do you guys deal with the post cruise blues? We book our trip and look forward to it for so long, then it seems to go by so fast. Now all we have is some great pictures to remind us....until next year hopefully. I know some of you cruise a lot, so what's the remedy for us?? Thanks

 

We've seem to book another cruise for something to look forward to again! We sailed NCL in Feb. and booked the Victory during the $49pp deposit sale--but we have lots of time to look forward to it as it's not until August of 2017.

[Bostwick girl]

I and several others on different dates have received the same email regarding beautification. I have been trying to find out also what it means. Have emailed my PVP to see if she knows, but haven't heard back from her. If I find out, I'll let everyone know.